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Tierney's troubles a tightrope for Tisei at debate

By Katie Doyle, Statehouse Correspondent

Updated:
09/26/2012 08:30:20 AM EDT

The legal troubles of U.S. Rep. John Tierney's wife will be a tightrope for the Democratic congressman and Republican challenger, Richard Tisei, when they meet for the first debate in a close 6th Congressional District race.

"Just as important as the actual issue itself, is the issue of how the issue is being handled," said Paul Watanabe, a political science professor at UMass-Boston.

Tierney, the eight-term incumbent, and Tisei, the former state Senate minority leader, will meet 3 p.m. Thursday at North Shore Community College in Lynn.

While Tierney initially did not want to take questions about his family problems during the debate, he later changed his mind and said he would welcome questions about the issue.

Tierney's wife pleaded guilty in 2010 to assisting in the filing of false tax returns for her brother, a fugitive charged with running an illegal gambling website. She was sentenced to a month in prison and five months of house arrest.

Mary Anne Marsh, a Democratic political consultant, said that although Tierney's in-laws' legal troubles have helped define the race, the debate will be an opportunity for him to remind voters how he has served them as a congressman and how his family problems have not undermined his work.

Marsh said a good debate showing could significantly aid Tierney's campaign for re-election, which is likely to get a boost from President Barack Obama and other Democratic candidates.

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A successful Tisei performance could help him win with independent voters or pull Democrats away from Tierney, she said.

Marsh said that although Tisei is sure to use Tierney's family problems against him, Tisei's success depends on whether or not he can convince voters that he would do a better job in Washington than his opponent.

"That's the debate. That's what voters are going to look for, especially in the first one," she said.

Paul Moore, a campaign manager for Tisei, said he thinks voters will pay close attention to the question of integrity during the debate.

"Whether it's Richard's integrity or John Tierney's integrity, I think that's the first thing that voters actually look for," he said.

Moore said voters would prefer a discussion of Tierney's judgment rather than constant references to Tierney's wife.

"I think the voters are actually very concerned about that," he said.

Grant Herring, Tierney's communications director, said in an email that Tierney had expected Tisei to make Tierney's family troubles a central theme of the debate. He said Tierney is happy to address the issue, but will also discuss what he has done in Congress, as well as his plans for the future.

"He will be talking about the choice between his vision of moving forward with a stronger middle class versus Mr. Tisei's plan to impose the Tea Party agenda of tax cuts for millionaires, tax increases for the middle class, and ending Medicare as we know it," Herring wrote.

Jim Nuzzo, a Republican consultant, said Tisei will need to demonstrate that he is not a "clone of the Tea Party."

Nuzzo said that if he were Tisei, he would not bring up the issue of Tierney's family troubles at all, but would instead spend all of his time bucking the myth that he is a "right-wing nut."

Watanabe said he thinks it is appropriate for there to be some focus on Tierney's in-laws' legal troubles, but he said too much attention on the issue, especially from Tisei, could be counterproductive for him.

Watanabe said in the long run, it will be difficult to predict what will be important to voters.

"Voters are very diverse," he said. "What they place a priority on is highly individualistic, and so it's impossible to say, for voters in general, what the importance of the issue is going to be."

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